Gumbo

by E. Lynn Harris

  There wasn't no way I was going home that time of day. Mama would just have some more static for me, so I went over to Eboni. Miss Lovey wasn't there. Eboni was, and she wasn't even in bed like she was supposed to be. She was in the kitchen, making Buffalo wings. Her school tutor was already gone for the day. She ask me, Girl, what's the matter?

  I was wondering if I looked so bad. If I looked so crazy. If that boy name was wrote right across my face. I say, I had to cut out early because I wasn't feeling good. Eboni know me real good. I know she could tell that wasn't all. But she say, Have lunch with me.

  Imani was still sleep and I put her down in Eboni room and finished up making the chicken while Eboni sat down. I told her, You know you shouldn't even be on your feet.

  Eboni say, Shoot, I'm hungry and I'm eating for three people.

  I say, You should have wait until your mama come home. Miss Lovey a good cook.

  Eboni say, She don't cook like I want. The doctor got me off salt and I ain't supposed to be eating fried foods. I done gained seventy-five pounds.

  I ain't say nothing to Eboni about her weight. Because it wouldn't be nothing but the pot calling the kettle black. I'd already dumped almost a half block of some government butter in the skillet to melt over the wings. I got the hot sauce and had poured on a half of a big bottle, and Eboni say, Put on more.

  You crazy, I say. They hot enough and that sauce full of salt.

  She say, Then add some cayenne.

  I put in a whole heap and Eboni took the plate of wings I fixed up for her with blue cheese and celery. She was eating them wings and slinging bones like she was starving. I sat there all quiet like, just watching the pile of empty bones grow on her plate.

  She say, I know something really wrong with you if you ain't eating nothing. What happened at school?

  I seen him, I say with my voice as flat as I could make it, trying to sound like I was feeling real normal and had some sense. Like the craziness ain't take me all over.

  Who? Peanut? she ask.

  I say, Not no Peanut. I don't care nothing about no Peanut. I seen him. You know who I mean. For a few seconds I think Eboni didn't know who I was talking about until she looked at me real hard in the face and I just know she seen that boy name wrote there.

  Oooh, she say, sucking grease off her fingers. No, you ain't even seen him.

  I did, I say. Right in the cafeteria. I guess he been there all the time. Ain't no way I would've ever come to Lincoln if I know that's where he go.

  Eboni say, You should transfer. When I have the twins, I ain't coming back to Lincoln. I'm going to East. It's closer. Come with me.

  Soon as Eboni say that, I got a pain right in my stomach like I needed to go to the bathroom again. I was thinking, How I'm going to tell Mama I want to switch schools? If I ain't want to after the shooting last month, ain't no way she was going to believe I want to do it now.

  Lincoln ain't that kind of school where there be shootings and stabbings like it's a regular way of life. It ain't locked down like a prison and you got to be passing through metal detectors and getting patted down. Wasn't never even no shooting there until that day.

  We was just being dismissed. I had got Imani from the nursery and had her in her stroller. We was in the main hall, where there was like two hundred to three hundred kids, when all these other kids come busting back in the main doors, running and screaming. They shooting. They shooting outside, they was screaming. And they kept on running right up the hall, pushing past people. Teachers. Kids. They even knocked down a security guard. Then all the kids already in the hall started running. I swear my heart wasn't even beating I was so scared. I thought they was going to run right over me and Imani. I snatched my baby out her stroller. Her leg got caught in the strap. I jerked her hard and got her loose just as I got smashed into some lockers. But I bounced off. I ain't have to think about where to go. The crowd carried me into the front office, where the principal and secretaries nem be. I got pushed behind the main desk where the secretaries was already on the floor. Everybody kept on pushing and screaming and I almost fell. Then I heard the principal, Mr. Diaz, yelling for us to all lay down. Get down, he say. Get down. Stay down!

  I fell right where I was and landed on some girl who ain't say nothing. Then this boy landed right on top of me and Imani. And Imani started screaming. My baby, I say. You squashing my baby. Get off!

  He was crying. Big old boy, too, with hair on his face. I wasn't crying. But I could feel my heart then going like crazy. Imani wasn't hurt. She was scared. Her eyes was all big like she want me to tell her what was going on. But I ain't know. I just held her tight to me.

  Mr. Diaz jumped over the main desk like he was Superman or something. One of the secretaries was screaming, Mr. Diaz don't go out there. But he kept right on going. I could hear him in the halls telling kids to get down.

  I ain't hear no gunshots. But all I could think was somebody was dead right outside the school and if I'd stepped out them doors a few minutes earlier it could've been me or Imani. Or whoever was shooting could run right on in the building and kill us where we was laying. I started shaking then. Thinking, Who would ever want to die like this? On some regular old schoolday. At some regular old school laying under a desk too scared to move. I wanted to go home.

  Mr. Diaz come back in a few minutes and say for us all to return to homeroom. Don't go out the building until I say to. After the police come. Then he got on the intercom. Saying for everybody to stay calm and if they was hurt, to come to the nurse office.

  I was still shaking when I left the office. The halls was packed and some kids was crying and others was laughing. These boys was saying that some dude got shot in the butt, that was all. They was laughing and other kids was laughing. Even some who was crying started laughing. Books and papers and backpacks everywhere. There was sneakers laying right where kids had run out of them. Half of the lockers open. I seen my stroller. It wasn't bad off. It was real dirty where it got stepped on, and one of the arms was bent, but I could still push it.

  Me and Mama and Miss Odetta watched the news that night, and the shooting was on every channel. The boy was really only shot in the butt and they didn't keep him at the hospital. They say his wound was superficial. Mr. Diaz come on the news, looking all smooth. Like nothing happened. He say our school a good school and they ain't never had no problem like this. The boy that was shot didn't go to our school. It's outside agitators. All the while he saying this, some kids was jumping up and down in the background and making faces, laughing. Then they interviewed this girl and boy who say they seen a jeep. It started going slow and pulled up in front of a bus. Then pow pow pow pow pow. Like it's the Wild Wild West. That's all they seen, because they ran back inside. The newsman say it's a miracle nobody else got hurt or killed.

  Miss Odetta say, They ain't going to catch nobody. You wait and see.

  Mama say, Ain't this some shit? In front a school. They could've killed a bunch of kids. Them the kind of niggers don't care about nobody. I'm telling you. You ain't safe no goddamn place no more.

  I say, They was probably all some drug dealers coming by our school messing things up.

  Miss Odetta say, That ain't got to be true. Why it got to be about drugs? She pulled a cigarette out her bra and lighted it. Then she say, Shit. Niggers was getting shot before there ever was drug dealers.

  Mama give me a look and smile behind Miss Odetta back. Me and her knew not to say nothing else. We know Miss Odetta just say that because of June Bug. Miss Odetta know we know that June Bug dealing. Miss Odetta the one act like what he do is all right. Living on the down low in her basement. You can't say nothing having to do with drugs without Miss Odetta throwing her two cent in. And what I really want to be doing when she do is throw her back a penny in change.

  Mama say, They need to catch them and throw they asses under the jail.

  Miss Odetta say, Don't hold your breath.

  Mama asked if I want to go to another school. I told h
er I didn't. I got my daycare and everything all set up at Lincoln.

  Mr. Diaz had a assembly the next day to tell us everything was safe. Even though I was thinking he can't stop some fool from shooting. I mean, damn, if he can do that, he need to come around my way. Because they still be shooting around here. If there's some shooting when me and Imani is up late, she don't look at me like she done the first time she heard it. Like she got a question. Seem like she done already figured out the answer.

  So things just settled back down to regular at Lincoln. The only trouble was that mess girls keep going. There some jealous girls go to our school. A group of bitches who roam in packs. They don't like you if you pretty, so I don't have no problems with them. They don't even see me. They hunt girls like Coco. Two of them bitches beat Coco up in a lavatory. Ain't no way skinny little Coco stand a chance against no two girls. They ripped five extensions out her head right from the root. Tore her shirt and bra right off her. Scratched up her face. Coco say they told her she wasn't nothing. She wasn't shit. Coco ain't tell who it was. She too scared.

  I know how she feel about not telling. Even though she know who them girls is. She got to see them every day. But she keep right on going like they ain't even there. With a secret. Ever since she was jumped, Coco carry a knife. Not no little one, neither. She showed it to me. It's a butcher knife like your mama keep in the kitchen drawer and be chopping on meat with. She have it right in her backpack inside one of her notebooks. She keep the pack half zipped so she can get to it easy.

  He say he had a knife. That night. He ain't never show it to me. He say if he had to show it to me, he was going to have to use it on me. So he kept it like a secret.

  When I was talking to Eboni that day after I seen him at school, I was thinking maybe that was what I need. A secret to keep me safe. Maybe I could sneak a knife out the house without Mama knowing, or go down to the Woolworth and buy one down in they basement. I'd be like Coco, have it where I could get to it easy. If he was to say something to me, he'd know all about it. I'd stab his ass right in the broad daylight in the cafeteria. But that was just that dried-up craziness in me. There ain't no way I could do something like that. Not having Imani. I don't know what she'd do if I was took from her or she was took from me.

  Greasing on her chicken wings Eboni say to me, You should do like you should of done in the first place, Tasha. Tell your mama.

  I got me another pain in my stomach. I say, My mama ain't your mama. If Miss Lovey was my mama, I would've told her straight off.

  Eboni say, My mother. Your mother. Live across the way. Fifteen. Sixteen. East Broadway. It was a song we'd sing when we was picking sides for kickball. We'd be lining ourselves up so we could end up on the same side. Eboni knew I'd give her the next lines of the song. Every night they have a fight and this is what they say. Icka Bicka Backa Soda Cracker. Out. Go. She. We finished up together.

  But I say to her, I'm for real, Eboni. You know I can't tell my mama. And don't you be even telling Miss Lovey. Eboni was sucking on a bone and making no promises to me.

  When Imani woke up, I took her on home. It was still light out. Before I unlocked the front door, I stood on the porch and erased my face. I closed my eyes and wrote on it that I just come from another boring day of school, because I knew the first thing I would see was Mama sitting on the couch looking me dead in the mouth when I walked in. But she wasn't sitting there. The house ain't had no smell like some dinner had been cooking, neither. It smelled like perfume. I knew right then Mama was going out.

  She done met some man I ain't even seen yet. He call sometime. All he say is can he speak to Earlene. Then she take the call up in her room. The thing is, he been calling for over a month and ain't never been to our house. Mama meet him off somewhere. That make me think he ain't got no car. Or she don't want me meeting him.

  I went upstairs with Imani and peeked in Mama room. It was a mess. Her dresser top was covered with all kinds of makeup and brushes and sponges. Her shoes was all in a heap on the floor, and it looked like she throwed all her outfits across her bed. All it seem she decided on to wear was her nice bra and drawers. The kind men be liking. All black and made from lace.

  Mama was sitting on the end of the bed with her face all made up, looking all pretty and soft, putting lotion on her legs. Her body all skinny like she ain't never had a baby. Even her stomach flat. It got only a few thin stretch marks that circle her belly button like the petals on a flower. They so tiny you can't hardly even see them. It's like I was in her but barely left no sign I was there.

  She say, Come on in here, Tasha.

  I could only get the door part open. I squeezed in with Imani on my hip.

  Mama say, I was fenna to leave you a note. But you here now. I'm going out. There's a food stamp on the kitchen table if you want to go up to the Arabian store and get yourself something for dinner.

  I ask, Where you going, Mama?

  She say, Out. And smile like a girl going on a date. I don't know. Maybe she feel like a girl. Mama ain't nothing but thirty-two.

  I ask, Well, when you coming back?

  When I feel like it, Mama say. Girl, I'm grown. I know my way home. Why you in my business? Do I be in your business?

  I say, Yeah, Mama, you do be.

  And Mama laugh and snap the bottle of lotion shut. You damn straight I be in your business. Because I'm the mama and you the child. It's my job to know your business. Did you take your pill today, Tasha?

  I say, I did. I always take it, Mama. You going out with Royster? I ask. Even though I know it ain't been him calling. Mama busted out laughing, and me too. Even Imani laughed like she knew who we was talking about.

  Child, Mama say, I ain't even going out with the Jherri Curl King no more.

  Mama was dating Royster before Imani was born. I never did like him. Royster old enough to be Mama daddy. He all the time had a plastic bag on his head that stuck to his bald spot in the middle. Mostly I ain't like him because he married. What Mama want with a married man, I don't know. Miss Odetta got her this married man Simpkin she been going out with ever since I can remember. He give Miss Odetta money. Maybe Mama thought Royster going to give her money. But he never gave her none I ever seen.

  Mama got up from the bed and I sat down behind her with Imani. Imani started squirming and whining to get down. I ain't want to let her down in all that mess. She wasn't going to do nothing but put something in her mouth. These days she be putting all kinds of things in her mouth she find on the floor. I bounced her on my lap. Imani liked that.

  Mama say, If you go up to the store, get some more bread. She was pulling on a pair of tight jeans.

  I say, I don't think I'm going. I don't feel so good.

  Mama put on a red blouse and left the top three buttons open. Then she come over to me, kicking shoes out the way. She put the back of her hand to my head. It was all cool, and I smelled her perfume sweet like some candy. I could see right down her shirt to her titties.

  Mama say, You cool as a cucumber, girl.

  I say, It's my stomach.

  Mama say, Tasha, you just need to sit on the toilet. You probably constipated. Seem like you trying to get me to stay home with you tonight like you some baby.

  I ain't say nothing. I looked at Imani. She got hold of Mama housedress and was chewing on a button. Mama went over to the mirror, brushing her hair. I did want Mama to stay home. But I ain't want to say it.

  Mama say, Miss Odetta right next door if you need something. She was still looking in the mirror.

  Imani need changing, I say. When I took the button out her mouth, she start crying, so I knew it was time for me to leave. I went to my room. Maybe I was being a baby. But I ain't want to see Mama go out. I turned my radio up all loud so I wouldn't have to hear the front door shut.

  That evening I went on with the routine of feeding Imani and getting her ready for bed. When I put her in the tub, she kept on saying, Dada. Dada. She been saying that for a while now, but when she say it th
at night, it made me think of him. I washed off her tongue with the washcloth. Trying to wash that word right out her mouth. Don't you be saying that, I say. You say Mama. Mama.

  Imani wasn't even stutting me. She kept right on saying Dada like she been saying. When I went to wipe out her mouth again, she grabbed hold of the rag and sucked on it like it was a bottle. My baby probably thought I was crazy. Which I ain't. I was just on my way.

  She went right to sleep after I give her a bottle, so I ain't had no excuse for not doing homework. I left Imani in her crib, went on downstairs, and turned on the TV. I had a Latin test coming up on Friday. But I couldn't even keep my mind on my work. I wanted to talk to somebody. I thought about calling Eboni. But she had already told me what she thought I should do. So I picked up the phone and called Peanut. I ain't even let it ring one whole time before I hung up. I knew he ain't want me calling him.

  Like the nut he is, Peanut done left Lincoln. He transferred to South Park High. We don't mess around no more. I don't know. I think he done changed. He act like he don't want to be with me now. Maybe he sick of doing it with me. If I call him, he act like I'm bothering him. He always got some excuse to get off the phone real quick. He tired. He on the other line. He doing homework. Like he do homework! He made the basketball team there. J.V. He say that keep him busy. But I know he ain't just getting busy with no basketball. I know he seeing another girl.

  Coco the one brung me that bone. Her cousin go to South Park, too, and Coco say her cousin say Peanut be with this mixed girl. He be kissing her on the bus. It's not like I love him or nothing. I miss being with Peanut. Kissing him. I don't really miss doing it with him. He do it so fast. I always just wanted to get back to the kissing. I be dreaming about him sometime. That his long eyelashes is tickling my neck and I wake up laughing, and then be mad because it was only a dream.

  It seem like after you been with somebody, after they done been all up inside you, that you could call them up. That you could say anything to them. Like, Hey, there's something that's bothering me. I don't want you to do nothing but listen to me talk. To let me get this boy name out my mind. To get his name out my mouth. Off my face. You think a person could do that. But I ain't even try it with Peanut. If I would've called him up and he had rushed me off the phone like I wasn't nothing to him. Like he was so great and I was just some stupid bitch he was throwing table scraps to by actually talking to me for two minutes on the phone. I would've gone all the way to crazy.